


Color Me Bittersweet

by sojustifiable



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Family Member Death, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Painting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 12:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7532848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sojustifiable/pseuds/sojustifiable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After catching Draco harassing Luna over an ad looking for models to paint, Ginny takes up the offer to sit for a portrait and gets in a little deeper than she expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Color Me Bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've written any F/F fic, and even longer since I've written anything for Harry Potter, but I just love these two. Accompanying art is on my tumblr.

Ginny always figured having a notice board in a public school was a bad idea. It had been a good proposition in theory -- a place for people to post for auditions for their cover bands, or mention weekend events. More often than not, though, such witty comments as, ‘blow me,’ and ‘lavender brown is a skank,’ get scrawled across the papers instead much as they did in the bathroom stalls. 

Now of course, that Lovegood girl is putting something up and Draco and his goons stand idly by jeering over it. The school doesn’t really have a bullying problem, for the most part, little cliques intermix and pass by without much incident, but then there are those boys with their heads up their asses who are convinced they should be living in a 1985 John Hughes movie. This won’t do at all. It doesn’t matter to Ginny what kind of note the other girl is putting up; whether it’s for starting up a mushroom hunting club, or lucid dreaming. Whatever it is, she’s not going to stand by and watch it get defaced in less than two seconds. 

“What’s up, Malfoy.” Ginny leans against the wall directly in front of the the weasel faced boy, insults to the weasel. Even at her short stature, she doesn’t have any problem staring the kid down -- she’d known him since they were nine years old and she chased him around the school yard while he sang that shit nursery rhyme about the lady living in a shoe. Nothing about him scares her, not even the flanking meatheads on either side of him.

“Nothing much.” Draco sneers, though the expression was so at home on his face that she isn’t sure if it’s intentional or if he just looks that way. “Just asking Loony here if she wants us  _ nude _ for her paintings -- she’s doing portraits you know. Maybe you could get yours done she could make you hot.”

It’s a tiresome game, and one she doesn’t figure will end until they graduate, but today she’s in a fighting mood. “I wouldn’t think you’d want anyone to see what you’ve got going on down there.” Ginny gives a cursory nod to his pants. She’s learned from a young age how frail the male ego can be, especially Draco’s.

“Shut it, Weasel-brain. Do I need to remind you who the one on the football team is?” 

Ha. Funny. He throws himself around like a sport holds any weight. “Mhm, and I play lacrosse so between the two of us, I’m the one with a  _ stick _ . Besides, this isn’t  _ Glee _ and goddamnit you’re the  _ kicker _ for crying out loud.” 

Previously quiet, Luna gives a tiny snort of laughter, a muffled sound at first before she lets it burst out. “That was really something.”

“Isn’t he bothering you?” Ginny whirls, surprised to see her classmate in such good humor about it.

“Of course he’s bothering me.”  _ Ginny can respect a woman who can talk about Draco like he isn’t there.  _ “But there isn’t much he can actually do, is there?” Cocking her head to the side, Luna seems to regard the space just above his head rather than looking him directly in the eye, immediately making the boy noticeably uncomfortable. That’s some powerful stuff, ruffling him with just a look. 

There isn’t much Malfoy can do to keep up his image besides turn his back and scoff like he hasn’t had his pride wounded. “Whatever, weirdo.” 

With no more blond, slimey pondscum to stare down, Ginny relaxes against the wall and gives the girl in front of her a bit of a once over. She always has the kind of outfits that you know she actually really likes, and Ginny has always admired her for it -- there are a lot of different kinds of bravery in this world and keeping up such a unique style in a public high school is certainly one of them. Today, her accent piece is a pair of salamander printed tights under her dress. 

“So you need someone to sit for a portrait?” The way Luna looks at her is a little off-putting, like she’s completely unafraid of extended eye contact. It feels revealing, and Ginny makes the offer without even thinking it over properly. She has lacrosse practice three times a week already, not exactly a lot of free time to hang out in the art room. And yet… she’s always been interested in the girl since she’d met her back in their freshman year but had never had the chance to get to know her, see what makes her tick. 

Luna gathers her hair into a messy bun, answering slowly, “Yes, for my portfolio for class -- I don’t usually do them, but then… it might be fun doing something different.”  

“Okay, so when are you free?”

It seems like the next logical question to ask, but Luna looks at her quizzically. “Free like available? Oh, almost always -- except Wednesdays it’s my day to tend the school garden.”

Ginny didn’t even know they had a school garden. “There’s no lacrosse practice on Fridays,” she suggests, but the girl in front of her still just blinks owlishly. 

“That’s a nice schedule.” 

“So I could sit for a portrait after school,” she fills in.

Those same owlish eyes bloom with recognition and a rare excitement. “Oh! Then I guess I’ll see you then. In the art room?”

“Sure.” A shy smile finds a home on Ginny’s face despite herself. “Maybe I should get your phone number in case anything comes up?”

“I don’t have a cell, and I don’t think my home phone would be much use for you unless you want to chat with my dad,” Luna answers. “I’m always in the art room though, so if you don’t show up I’ll just assume something came up and you can just find me there if you want to reschedule… or something.” 

It almost seems like she’s preparing for Ginny to back out, which doesn’t sit well with her; when a Weasley makes a commitment, they keep them. Besides, she’s been trying to figure this girl out for the past year, but has found herself a little perplexed and uncharacteristically shy of the enigmatic Luna Lovegood. She always has such interesting things to say, and seems really nice, but no one she knows is close with the girl so she hasn’t had a chance to introduce herself. Now is the time! “I’ll be there,” Ginny blurts. 

Luna just smiles that same smile she has where she looks like she knows everything in the world. “I’ll look forward to it.” 

The rest of the week crawls by, and Ginny gets antsier by the day over her after school portrait sitting. Friday is the worst, and at lunch she’s practically vibrating with some hybrid of nerves and excitement.

“I dunno what you’re so worked up over, Gin.” Her brother Ron rolls his eyes before taking a huge bite of his sandwich. “Unless you’re scared Loony’s going to go wacko and stab you with a pencil.”

“Oh, Luna’s a bit different, sure, but she’s a nice girl.” Harry leans back in his cafeteria chair to toss a rolled up napkin in the trash. Ginny trusts his opinion, more than her own brother’s certainly. They’ve all grown up together and Harry, along with Hermione Granger, have always been the voices of reason around. 

“She’s smart too, Ronald, unlike some people at this table,” Hermione adds, flicking the boy in the head. “She’s in my calculus class, that’s better than you,  _ and _ she’s in Ginny’s year.”  

Ginny fidgets; usually it’s not even called into question that she hangs out with her brother and his friends who are all a year above her. Most of them are on the lacrosse team together anyway, minus Hermione, so it’s not that it’s that weird, but she sometimes remembers that they’re all going to graduate ahead of her. 

“You should ask her to hang out with us,” Harry says. “I don’t see her around many people.” 

It’s true; Luna is usually by herself when Ginny sees her walking between classes, and she has no idea where she eats lunch. Maybe in the art room? She had said she was always in there. It gets her wondering if it’s by choice or if the other girl would prefer having the company. 

History drags by, as usual, and Ginny can’t wait to get out of class and book it down to the art room. The last thing she wants is for Luna to think she’d stood her up when the truth is she’s been planning around this all week. In fact, the reason her friends had heard about it in the first place was that Harry had asked her if she wanted to study for their algebra class, and, stuffing her middle school crush aside, she’d turned him down.  

The bell rings and she nearly throws herself back from her seat to get out of the classroom fast. Of course, it backfires a little bit in that, in her haste, she actually gets there before the other girl and even before some people have left from the last drawing and painting class. She nearly runs into a tiny freshman boy when she flings the door open. Luna arrives after just a couple minutes though, purple vinyl boots squeaking on the tile.

“You came,” Luna breathes. It’s a bit disconcerting that she’s still surprised even when Ginny has been waving a greeting to her every time she’d run into her that week. 

Behind the dreamy silver eyes, there’s something calculating, and it makes Ginny feel a bit exposed to have someone looking at her so intently, but she doesn’t think she strictly dislikes it. Rocking back on her heels, she nods and asks, “Where do you want me?” 

The other girl doesn’t answer right away, rummaging through her bag and bustling around the room instead. “Let me get set up first, but we can probably find good light near the window since it’s not all that sunny today.”

It’s a little awkward standing off to the side while the other girl obviously has things to do and places to be, but Ginny tries her best to stay out of the way leaned up against a table until Luna motions her over. She’s already got a chair set up for her in the right spot, with the easel and stool across from her. 

Ginny fidgets, getting increasingly nervous under such careful scrutiny. “Do you need me to pose a certain way?” 

“No,” Luna answers with a shake of her head, bottle-cap earrings jangling against her cheeks. “You’re just fine the way you are.”

_ Just the way she is… _ It’s not something she’s particularly used to -- being told she doesn’t have to change anything -- usually there’s a lot of pressure in her family, and in class, ‘be like your brother Percy, not your brother George.’ Fred had been in there too before the accident at the gas station, but people kept him out of his mouth these days. 

With nothing else to do but think and stare ahead, Ginny starts taking stop of her artists’ outfit, with radish printed socks and a striped sweater dress included along with those  _ boots. _ Every bit of it sticks out, and yet doesn’t detract from her face or the pile of ashy blonde hair perched precariously on the back of her head. It makes her feel a little unoriginal and she blurts, “I should’ve worn something more interesting,” kicking her scuffed converse on the ground. “I wasn’t thinking about wearing something for a portrait -- it’s all pretty plain.”

Luna peeks around the the easel and just gives her a smile, a little knowing, a little serene. “You always shine bright, Ginny Weasley.” 

Those words certainly make her blush. She knows just how red her face gets with just the least bit of embarrassment; her brother Ron has always been more than happy to tell her how easy she is to read. Luna squirts a suspicious amount of red paint onto her palette but seems to catch Ginny’s worried glances and explains, “I’m thinking bittersweet will do nicely for your hair.”

Bittersweet. What a name for a color.  


End file.
